Radiant Closes $165 Million Series C
NANO Nuclear Energy Closes $105 Million Common Stock Offering
Atomic Canyon Raises $7 Million to Speed Development
State of Texas Program Plans $350 Million for SMR Development
India to Open Nuclear Sector to Foreign Direct Investment
Brookfield Targets $100 Billion for Energy Projects in India
Sweden Approves Finance For New Nuclear Plant Projects
NuScale’s 77 MW SMR Gets NRC Standard Design Approval
KHNP and Oklo Collaborate on SMR Projects
DARPA Exapnds Rads to Watts Space Nuclear Program
Radiant Closes $165 Million Series C
* Radiant closes $165 Million Series C with additional funding from Giant Ventures, StepStone, ARK Venture Fund, and others
* Total funding reaches $225 million ahead of next year’s historic reactor test
Radian Nuclear, a developer of a planned fleet of mass-produced portable nuclear microreactors, announced the successful close of its $165 million Series C funding round, bringing the company’s total venture funding to $225 million.
The latest round, led by DCVC, now includes new investments from StepStone, Giant Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management Venture Fund, SGA, Crossbeam Venture Partners, Align Ventures, ARK Venture Fund, Gigascale Capital, HartBeat Ventures, and Pax Ventures joining a growing roster of investors backing Radiant’s product development efforts.
Current investors in Radiant include Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism team, who led Radiant’s Series B funding, Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund, Draper Associates, Felicis, Washington Harbour Partners LP, Chevron Technology Ventures, Decisive Point, McKinley Alaska, Nucleation Capital, Boost VC, Also Capital, and others.
The funding will primarily be used to complete Radiant’s Kaleidos Development Unit, and for factory siting and early construction efforts of the facilities that are expected to produce up to 50 microreactors per year.
Radiant plans to offer the reactors to customers either as a unit by unit sale or through a power purchase agreement. In the latter case, either Radiant or a utility operator, would manage the reactor(s). In this regard, Radiant’s business model is similar to the one offered by Oklo which is build and operate its reactors providing electricity to customers either on the grid, or private wire, via power purchase agreements.
The funding announcement follows the news that the U.S. Department of Energy has selected Radiant as one of five companies in the US to receive high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel. Radiant will use this fuel for the first test of its Kaleidos microreactor. The test is currently targeted for 2026 at the Idaho National Laboratory DOME facility.
Other firms receiving first shipments of HALEU include TRISO-X (X-Energy XE-100), Kairos Power (Hermes), Westinghouse Electric Company (eVinci), and TerraPower (Natrium). DOE said in a press statement in April that the first shipments of HALEI could go out this Fall.
The test site is located at the Materials Fuels Complex (MFC) about 25 miles west of Idaho Falls, ID. It is positioned to be a national center for testing micro and small modular reactor designs. A short list of firms bringing their designs to MFC, which is incomplete, includes in no particular order, Project Pele, Aalo & MARVEL, eVinci, Radiant, and Nano Nuclear.
Radiant’s Kaleidos 1MW microreactor is designed to replace diesel generators and is intended to be rapidly deployed to provide resilient power for remote villages, emergency response, and military installations.
& & &
NANO Nuclear Energy Closes $105 Million Common Stock Offering
NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) a developer of advanced nuclear energy technologies, announced the closing of its previously announced common stock private placement for net proceeds to NANO Nuclear are expected to be approximately $99 million.
Primary participation in the private placement came from institutional investors. In the private placement, NANO Nuclear sold 3,888,889 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $27.00 per share.
The proceeds from this financing significantly boosts NANO Nuclear’s cash on hand to over $210 million. With these resources, NANO Nuclear said it will be able to more readily advance its micro nuclear reactors and auxiliary nuclear energy-related businesses, as well as seek complimentary acquisitions and drive growth towards initial revenue generation.
The investors in the stock offering were not disclosed. The securities sold in the private placement have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933. Nano said in a press statement it expects to register the stock in the near term.
Titan Partners Group, a division of American Capital Partners, acted as the sole placement agent for the offering. Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP acted as counsel to NANO Nuclear, and Lucosky Brookman LLP acted as counsel to the placement agent.
& & &
Atomic Canyon Raises $7 Million to Speed Development
Atomic Canyon Raises $7M led by Energy Impact Partners will bring generative search and operational management capabilities to new markets
Atomic Canyon, the developer of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered search and generative AI tools for the nuclear power industry, announced it has raised $7 million to accelerate deployments across the country.
The seed round was led by the Elevate Future Fund from Energy Impact Partners (EIP), with participation from Commonweal Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Wischoff Ventures, Tower Research Ventures, and previous angel investors. As part of the investment, Jenny Gao, a Vice President of Energy Impact Partners, will join the Atomic Canyon board of directors.
Atomic Canyon’s flagship product, Neutron Enterprise, addresses a challenge in the nuclear industry. By securely connecting to internal data sources at nuclear power plants and external authoritative technical and regulatory data sources, it provides AI-powered search and generative AI capabilities across vast repositories of technical documentation.
The platform is being rolled out at PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant in Avila Beach, California, where it is transforming how staff access and use the plant’s estimated two billion pages of documents. Initial work shows that Neutron Enterprise reduces document search time from hours to seconds, enabling more strategic use of expert resources while improving regulatory compliance and operational efficiency.
Neutron Enterprise leverages FERMI, Atomic Canyon’s family of AI models, which are specifically trained on nuclear terminology. These models were developed in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, using their Frontier supercomputer, the world’s first to achieve exascale computing. The platform integrates with multiple data sources at nuclear facilities, including record management and work management systems, while maintaining strict role-based access controls to ensure data security.
NRC Reports Progress Using AI
In a comprehensive web page the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that it has not been standing still in developing a capability to use artificial intelligence to carry out its safety mission. The web page lists accomplishments to date and describes works scheduled for the next 12 months.
How Atomic Canyon will Use the New Funding
The new funding will be used to expand Atomic Canyon’s team, enhance the Neutron platform, and develop additional integrations with third-party data sources and AI tools for next-generation nuclear technologies. These partnerships will further strengthen Neutron’s ability to help nuclear power professionals find and generate relevant information across internal and external sources.
With the funding, Atomic Canyon also announced its board of advisors including: Juliann Edwards, the Chief Development Officer of The Nuclear Company and the chair of U.S. Women in Nuclear; Bud Albright, the former Chair and CEO of the United States Nuclear Industry Council; David Nelson, former CIO of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Jon Guidroz, SVP of the small modular reactor technology developer Aalo Atomics and former Senior Strategy Officer and Senior Director of Energy and Resources at Microsoft.
& & &
State of Texas Proposes Program of $350M for SMR Development
Landmark legislation paves way for possible deployment of small modular reactors
(NucNet) The State of Texas is on track to create a taxpayer-funded incentive fund to pay for the development of nuclear power and the potential deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) after a critical vote in the Senate on 05/27/25.
The Senate passed a legislative proposal that will dedicate an estimated $350M of public money to pay for the nuclear power in Texas. Supporters of the legislation see the bill’s advancement in the legislature as a clear signal that Texas’ political leadership sees a future in nuclear power.
“Texas is on the precipice of passing landmark legislation that will put Texas at the center of the nuclear renaissance,” said Reed Clay, president of the Texas Nuclear Alliance.
Before becoming law, the House must agree with any changes made in the Senate. It would then head to governor Greg Abbott, who has previously shown support for the grant program.
The governor’s office would oversee the nuclear energy fund and the grant program. His staff would also lead an effort to speed up the permitting process by hiring a coordinator to help qualifying programs navigate federal regulations.
Roughly 80% of the fund’s $350M would be dedicated towards reimbursing construction costs for nuclear reactors. The remainder would be used for research and development.
The fund would focus on SMRs, Recent developments in Texas, include the first federally approved research reactor in more than 40 years at Abilene Christian University.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a construction permit for the deployment of the Natura Resources’ MSR-1 system at Abilene Christian University (ACU). This action by the regulatory agency marks the first construction permit for a liquid-fueled advanced reactor and only the second for any advanced reactor issued by the NRC.
The molten salt research reactor (MSRR), which will not generate power, will to provide valuable operational data to support Natura’s 100MWe systems and will also serve as a world-class research tool to train advanced reactor operators and educate students.
Texas A&M University said recently it had selected four companies to explore developing advanced nuclear power reactors on its Rellis research campus. Each of the four companies – Kairos Power, Natura Resources, Aalo Atomics and Terrestrial Energy – could potentially build at least one commercial nuclear power plant at Rellis, about nine miles west of Texas in Brazos County.
Last month US chemicals company Dow and advanced nuclear reactor and fuel developer X-energy submitted a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an advanced nuclear project in Seadrift, TX, (a coastal site 155 miles SW of Houston, TX) that could become the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial site in North America.
A month later the Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted for review a construction permit application from Long Mott Energy LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company. The application requests permission to build Long Mott Generating Station, a multi-unit advanced reactor facility at Dow Chemical’s Seadrift site in Calhoun County, Texas.
History of Nuclear Power in Texas
Uprates and license extensions have been successful for the state’s operating reactors, but plans for new reactors have fallen by the wayside due to concerns about cost overruns for new construction and a combination of low natural gas prices and other market factors.
Texas has four operating nuclear power plants. They are two 1,200 MW plants at the Comanche Peak site and two more 1,200 MW plants at the South Texas Project. In 2023 Comanche Peak announced modest uprates to both reactors and in parallel its plans for license extensions for both reactors. The NRC issued the 20-year license extensions for Comanche Peaks reactors in July 2024. The NRC issued 20-year license extensions for both units at the South Texas Project in 2017.
In 2012 Exelon notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that withdrew its Early Site Permit application for new nuclear construction in Victoria County, Texas. The decision, it says, is “all about the economics.
The utility said in its statement to the NRC, “The action is in response to low natural gas prices and economic and market conditions that have made construction of new merchant nuclear power plants in competitive markets uneconomical now and for the foreseeable future.”
In 2018 an effort to add two 1,350 MW Toshiba ABWR reactors at the South Texas Project was cancelled due to fears by utilities of cost overruns and their effects on electricity rates.
& & &
India to Open Nuclear Sector to Foreign Direct Investment
(Times of India) India is set to open its nuclear energy sector to foreign investment, potentially allowing up to 49% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in phases. This policy shift aims to boost nuclear power generation to 40 GW by 2035 and 100 GW by 2047. Amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act are underway to facilitate private participation
The Indian government faces a gap between its ambitions to build out its nuclear energy infrastructure and its capacity to fund the construction of as many as two dozen 700 MW PHWRs and 40-50 200 MW PHWRS.
India is planning a major policy shift by opening up its nuclear energy sector for foreign players, something that had been off limits for a long time. Up to 49% foreign direct investment could be allowed in the nuclear energy landscape, though the liberalization will be carried out in phases, starting with a 26% cap. This cap may be raised following a review. Additionally, the proposed framework will likely mandate majority ownership by the Indian partner in the venture.
At present, the nuclear energy sector currently has no FDI and remains entirely under government control through NPCIL. The exception is the build out of the complex at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu where Russia’s Rosatom has built two 1,000 MW VVER, is nearing completion of two more started in 2017, and has units 5 & 6 under construction started in 2021.
Due to its ambitious plans to increase nuclear power generation capacity from the present 8 GW to 40 GW by 2035, the government is preparing the ground for private and foreign participation. India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced amending the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act. These legal changes are crucial to facilitate a larger role for private entities in India’s nuclear power program.
& & &
Brookfield targets $100 Billion for Energy Projects in India
The Bloomberg wire service reports that Brookfield Asset Management is projecting a significant increase in its Indian portfolio over the next five years, targeting $100 billion in assets under management, up from the current $30 billion , according to a report by Bloomberg.
Speaking at an investor event in Mumbai, a Brookfield executive cited India’s growing importance in Brookfield’s global strategy.
“There is no limit to the amount of capital we’d put to work in India right now,” he stated, signaling the firm’s intent to significantly deepen its footprint in that country.
Brookfield is primarily an alternative energy asset manager, which has deployed approximately $12 billion each in infrastructure and commercial real estate across India where it holds $3 billion in assets and a development pipeline exceeding 43 GW. The firm’s infrastructure holdings span critical national assets including a cross-country gas pipeline, telecom towers, and data centers developed in partnership with Reliance Industries.
Nuclear Energy is Next on the Agenda
Brookfield is additionally planning an entry into India’s nuclear energy market, contingent on regulatory reforms. The firm holds a controlling stake in Westinghouse Electric Corporation, a leading global provider of nuclear technology. Canadian uranium miner Cameco is an equity partner in the owner ship of Westinghouse.
Westinghouse has long planned to build six of its 1,150 MW AP1000 PWRs at a site in the state of Andhra Pradesh on India’s east coast. The supplier liability law has been an intractable barrier to that development.
Rosatom has a proposal to build six of its 1,200 MW VVER reactors there, but so far NPCIL has not moved forward with it. Elsewhere in India, EDF has been trying for over a decade to convince NPCIL to fund construction of six of its 1,650 MW EPRs at Jaipaur on India’s west coast. For its part, while NPCIL has accepted the technical scope, but it has balked at the cost, and has well-founded reservations about EDF’s abilities to control costs in new reactor construction.
Brookfield said through as spokesperson that that India stands to benefit from macroeconomic tailwinds including global supply chain diversification and shifting foreign direct investment flows. Global corporations are increasingly establishing operations, supply chains, and capability centers in India, he said. “That is a trend we do not see slowing down.”
& & &
Sweden Approves Finance For New Nuclear Plant Projects
Measures to spur investment in up to 5,000 MW of new-build
(NucNet) Sweden’s parliament has approved a government proposal to offer state support for investments in new nuclear power, marking a significant step in the country’s push to stabilize electricity prices and ensure long-term energy security.
The legislation outlines a financial support framework for companies planning to build nuclear reactors, including government-backed loans and contracts for difference (CfD) schemes.
The move aims to support projects with a total installed capacity of up to 5,000 MW —roughly equivalent to four to five large-scale reactors.
Sweden’s financial markets minister Niklas Wykman said, “This is a historic announcement that takes responsibility for public financing and taxpayers’ money. An expansion of nuclear power is expected to result in greater price stability and lower system costs.”
The aid package is part of Sweden’s broader strategy to address rising electricity price volatility and system imbalances. The government argues that increasing fossil-free baseload capacity is critical for supporting economic growth, job creation, and the green transition.
Under the approved framework, government loans will be available for construction, testing, and preparatory work, though they will only cover a portion of total project costs. Private capital will also be required, and loan repayments must begin once the reactors become operational.
Once new facilities are producing electricity at full capacity, financial instruments guarantee a fixed “strike price” for electricity. If market prices fall below this level, the government compensates the producer, while if prices rise above it, the producer reimburses the government.
The new law also includes mechanisms for sharing risk and profits between the government and interested companies, the government.
The act will come into force in August 2025. Companies can begin submitting applications for state support on that date.
In August 2024, a government commission found that Sweden’s plans for a rapid expansion of its nuclear power capacity are likely to cost around $39 billion) and should be financed by a mix of government loans and price guarantees, a government commission has recommended.
The commission proposed a program of four or five new nuclear power plants with a total of 4,000-6,000 MW of installed capacity in order to make the program cost-effective.
Sweden will now need to seek approval for its state support scheme from the European Union under the bloc’s strict competition rules on state aid.
& & &
NuScale’s 77 MW SMR Gets NRC Standard Design Approval
Uprated SMR design will support a wider range of off-takers and consumers seeking clean energy through small modular reactor technology
NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) announced that it has received design approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its uprated 250 MWt (77 MWe) NuScale Power Modules.
The NRC’s uprate approval of the NuScale SMR technology now strengthens ENTRA1 Energy to produce and deliver energy as the most near-term American SMR power solution via ENTRA1 Energy Plants with NuScale SMR technology inside.
ENTRA1 Energy is NuScale’s partner and independent power plant development platform, which holds the global exclusive rights to the commercialization, distribution, and deployment of NuScale’s SMRs.
The uprate approval by the NRC increases the power output per module from NuScale’s previously-approved 50 MWe design, enabling ENTRA1 Energy Plants to provide a wider range of off-takers and consumers with reliable, carbon-free energy.
NuScale’s first Design Certification Application (DCA) for its 160 MWt (50 MWe) SMR design was accepted by the NRC in March 2017. Subsequently, the NRC affirmed its approval of NuScale’s 50 MWe SMR design, marking the first design to receive its approval.
NuScale’s uprated design features the same fundamental safety case and passive safety features previously approved by the NRC with a power uprate and select design changes to support growing capacity needs. Originally slated for approval later this summer, this announcement marks the early completion of the NRC review process.
About the Standard Design Approval
The NuScale US460 is a 77-MW-per-module SMR, which is based, in part, on the NuScale US600 design certified by the NRC in 2023. The US460 design continues to use natural “passive” processes such as convection and gravity in its operating systems and safety features. The US460’s six modules, producing a total of approximately 460 megawatts of electricity, are all partially immersed in a safety-related pool built below ground level.
A standard design approval indicates that a proposed reactor design meets applicable agency safety requirements. Companies that seek to use the US460 design would have to file applications seeking permission to build and operate a nuclear reactor using the approved design.
& & &
KHNP and Oklo Collaborate on SMR Projects
Oklo Inc. (NYSE: OKLO), an advanced nuclear technology company, announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), a leader in nuclear operation and construction. The agreement outlines plans to collaborate on the development and global deployment of Oklo’s advanced nuclear technology.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP, President Jooho Whang) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on 05/23/25 with U.S. small modular reactor (SMR) developer Oklo (CEO: Jacob DeWitte). The agreement aims to promote collaboration on the development of 4th-generation SMR technology. On 05/26/25, the two companies followed up with a meeting at KHNP headquarters in Gyeongju to explore detailed cooperation strategies.
Under the MOU, KHNP and Oklo intend to explore opportunities to jointly advance the standard design development and verification of Oklo’s planned Aurora powerhouse. The parties also plan to cooperate on early-stage project development efforts, including manufacturing feasibility assessments and planning of major equipment, supply chain development for balance of plant systems, and construction assessments and planning.
Oklo plans to deploy its 75 MWe Aurora powerhouse at the Idaho National Laboratory site and is currently advancing through the licensing process. The company is engaged with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a Pre-Application Readiness Assessment and intends to submit a formal Combined License Application (COLA) in October once the NRC’s reduced rates for safety design reviews of advanced reactors kick in.
Oklo also plans to file follow-on applications to support its growing order pipeline, which exceeds 14 GW. Unlike the traditional approach, which requires separate construction and operating licenses, the COLA allows both to be granted simultaneously, streamlining the overall licensing process.
This is Oklo’s second effort to secure a safety design review and license for its reactor. The new approach involves a new and more powerful reactor design and the use of lessons learned from the first failed effort. The firm says it is now positioned to succeed in successfully navigating the NRC’s regulatory processes.
& & &
DARPA Exapnds Rads to Watts Space Nuclear Program
(The DeBrief) The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched the “Rads to Watts” program, a new initiative aimed at developing compact, long-duration nuclear power systems for space exploration and defense. This program seeks to revolutionize how nuclear energy is converted into electricity by focusing on “radiovoltaics,” which are solid-state devices that directly convert radiation into power, moving beyond traditional heat engines.
Rads to Watts will explore new approaches for directly converting nuclear radiation energy into electricity, with a distinct focus on radiation voltaics (also known as radiovoltaics).
The ultimate vision of Rads to Watts is to enable radiovoltaics that convert high-power nuclear radiation into kilowatts of electrical energy. Enabling the operation of radiovoltaics at higher radiation fluences (i.e., number of radiation particles crossing a defined area or energy per unit area) will enable long-lived, unattended high-power sources for new operating domains that are power-starved and/or for which a logistics supply chain to replenish power sources does not exist.
The “Rads to Watts” program evolved from an August 2024 Request for Information (RFI) where DARPA sought to determine if direct energy conversion from nuclear sources could achieve high-power, long-duration outputs for next-generation missions.
Sam.Gov: DARPA Program Notice
Key Aspects of the Program
Addressing Limitations of Legacy Systems: Current nuclear power systems like radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) are bulky, produce limited power (a few hundred watts), and degrade over time. “Rads to Watts” aims to overcome these limitations by enabling kilowatts of electrical output through compact, solid-state devices.
Direct Energy Conversion: The program focuses on directly harvesting energy from nuclear radiation using solid-state devices, eliminating the need for moving parts, fuel resupply, and extensive shielding.
Overcoming Material Degradation: A core challenge for radiovoltaics has been the degradation of materials in high-radiation environments, which limits their lifespan and efficiency. DARPA is seeking solutions for materials that can operate for decades, matching the half-lives of nuclear materials.
Strategic Importance for Space: Compact, long-lasting nuclear power is considered essential for sustained operations in extreme environments, particularly in space, such as permanent off-world installations on the Moon or Mars, or deep-space surveillance platforms. It could power autonomous construction, life-support systems, and communication relays, especially during the two-week lunar night when solar panels are ineffective.
National Security and Exploration: The program has significant dual-use potential for both national security and scientific exploration, enabling energy independence in environments where resupply is difficult or impossible. It supports the U.S. military’s and intelligence community’s growing ambitions for reach and resilience in space.
The transition from an RFI to a formal program announcement indicates the agency received promising responses and has confidence in the technical path forward. DARPA is encouraging broad participation from academia, industry, and government labs to develop new materials and device structures for high-power radiovoltaics.
Rads to Watts: Proposers Day ~ June 13, 2025
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring a Proposers Day to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of an anticipated solicitation for the Rads to Watts program. The Proposers Day will be held on June 20, 2025, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
DARPA Conference Center, 675 North Randolph St., Arlington, Va. 22207
Registration deadline: June 13, 2025 – Registration Link
Program Document and Agenda for Proposers Day
Information Contact: Tabitha Dobson, PhD
# # #